Polymer microstructure characterization is the basis for developing new species and brands of polymers. At present, for a polymer such as a synthetic resin, its molecular weight, isotacticity and crystallinity are statistical average values, which can not reflect its real structure and properties information. Therefore, a correct classification method is important for microstructure research.
In polymer structure classification methods, besides the structure classification method based on relative molecular mass, the structure classification method based on degree of crystallinity has been used widely. The degree of crystallinity of the polymer is related to its chemical constituents, sequence, isotacticity distribution and branched degree, etc. and affects its mechanical property, thermodynamics property and machining property greatly. So, it is important to analyze the degree of crystallinity the polymer for the research on the polymer property and its grade.
The crystal classification method is to separate the polymer based on relationship between the crystallization of the polymer in its solution and the temperature. One is TREF (Temperature Rising Elution Fractionation), which is widely used in the polyolefin structure characterization. Recently, a new crystal classification method named as crystallization analysis fractionation (CRYSTAF) is developed, which is operated by decreasing temperature. The CRYSTAF is a one step separation method, which may need less time than a two-step separation of the TREF. So it is used widely.
Although the analyzing speed of the CRYSTAF is rapid than that of the TREF, the overall analyzing process of the CRYSTAF still needs much time such as two or more hours. So, it may slow down the development speed. In order to increase the development speed, a lot of screen devices are developed to meet the requirement for high throughput samples screen, such as including CRYSTAF 200+ of Polymer Char, which employs a selectivity valve to input a plurality of samples to the screen device in turn, and then screens the samples orderly. However, the screen device can only screen one sample one time. So, it can not meet the requirement for screening a plurality of samples simultaneously in a relatively short time. A bottleneck of the analyze speed is still existed.
Therefore, it is desired to develop a new high throughput screen method, which can screen a plurality of samples in a relatively short time to overcome drawbacks of the prior arts, The new screen method can screen the plurality of samples simultaneously or almost simultaneously. So, each sample can be screened continuously or almost continuously.
In order to match the high throughput screen method, it is also desired to develop a high throughput samples preparation method to provide the samples for screening. Thus the preparation and the screen of the samples can be accomplish continuously to improve efficiency of the polymer development and meet the requirement of the field on polymer development.